Comforting Illusions: Reply to Steve Hays

Militant atheists deem it their duty to disabuse Christians of their faith. Militant atheists think Christian theology is false, and they also think it’s morally wrong to believe falsehood.

I guess I am not a militant atheist. (As an aside, why is it common practice to refer to some atheists as “militant” or “avowed,” but one rarely, if ever, sees those adjectives in front of “Christian,” “Muslim,” “Jew,” or even “theist”?)

Hays describes a hypothetical scenario and then asks this.

From a secular standpoint, what should the doctor tell him? Should the doctor level with him, so that the dying, orphaned patient is in psychological agony for his remaining days or hours of conscious existence? Or should the doctor let the kid entertain a comforting illusion? Indeed, foster the illusion?